I went to see The Passion of the Christ tonight but it was sold out. Both the 8 pm and the 10 pm. Oh well, I will see it another time-glad to see the movie is doing well.

The Passion of The Christ

The reactions of people to the film are very telling. Most people come out of the theaters and praise the film, or the experience of seeing the Passion in a graphic (perhaps too graphic) way. But the anti-Christian bigotry comes out in full force with this movie! Thankfully the Catholic League has been keeping tabs. To read the letters to the editor and some of the columnists makes me realize just how bigoted people are when it comes to Christianity. A good example of this is Paul Vitello, a nasty bigot who writes for Newsday. He has bashed the Catholic Church for years and seems angry and upset that Mel Gibson is using film to portray the Passion. He watched the film and afterwards interviewed people for his column:

"People were saying interesting and heartfelt things, to be sure: One woman said the film reminded her that the Catholic Church was "not about priests, but about Jesus Christ," a reference to the pedophilia scandals. Another woman said Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ" was "the most moving thing I've ever seen." Period.
But I stopped interviewing them because the controversy surrounding this movie is not about what people will say after seeing the movie."

So, after viewing this movie which many have said will cause people to become violent, he finds that people have positive and moving reactions instead. This causes him to........stop interviewing them. Because hey, if what you believe about Christians is not confirmed by the facts, then you must shift gears and come up with another excuse to hate them and the art they produce.

He continues:

"In Gibson's movie, the faces of the Jewish high priests are devious-looking, brutish and unambiguously murderous. Aside from two lesser figures in the Jewish crowd who protest, there is not one priest allowed to show a shadow of doubt, or humanity.... too many of them, from where I sat, bore facial features considered by anti-Semites as stereotypically "Jewish" - hook noses and other such features straight from the book of hate. What was that all about, Mel Gibson?"

Yeah Mel, how dare you find these actors with these features? Where the heck did you film this thing, Italy??

"Why - while we're asking questions - was the role of Satan given to a woman? She appears in key scenes throughout the film. She entices Jesus to renounce his destiny and save himself. Was Satan a woman at the time? I never knew this about her, though woman-bashing has always been part of the fabric of the church, especially in Mel's ultra-conservative branch."

Remember the saying "there are no stupid questions"? Well there are, and this has to be the stupidest of all questions ever asked.


"Does any religious Christian need to be told again what happens at the end of each of the four Gospels - and to be told it by a man who denounces the modern church and all the reconciling spirit it stands for?"

This bigot has bashed the Church for years and now he bashes someone who supposedly renounces it?? This is another positive aspect of this movie- it is bringing out all this bigotry in a way that puts the bigots on the defensive. Finally we can have a movie that we can support and the anti-Catholic bigots have to whine and complain. It will be interesting to see how these same people react the next time an anti-Catholic movie comes out. Especially if that movie is put out by one who "denounces the modern church and all the reconciling spirit it stands for".

All three major New York papers today had stories on The Passion of The Christ:

(anti-Catholic rag) Newsday

NY Post

Daily News

All three include pictures or blurbs about Kellenberg High School's pilgrimage to the movie. Students (who chose to do so) walked 3 miles from the school to the movie.

"They came in waves, hundreds at a time walking three miles in the winter chill, their foreheads daubed with ash as they crowded normally empty sidewalks on their way to see a movie.

The film was Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ," which opened at theaters across the country yesterday, and the walkers were students at Kellenberg Memorial High School.

Altogether, about 1,500 students from the Catholic school in Uniondale made the trip in two batches, 700 for a morning showing at the Loews Roosevelt Raceway Theater and 800 for an afternoon screening there.

"Let this be a pilgrimage of faith with Jesus, and not just another movie," said Brother Ryan Sheehan, during a prayer earlier at the school's auditorium."

Big Turnout for 'Passion' Opening

Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ

Sometimes I wish I could blog from work. Waiting for my breakfast this morning I stood reading the NY Post's front page story of reactions to The Passion of the Christ. First, the "experts" "review" the movie. I read a lot of movie reviews and they always tell the story of the movie, how the acting is, how the story and dialogue is, the quality of the music and lighting, etc... The Passion reviews, are different, they sound more like historical and theological criticisms. This is just weird. They also focus on the violence, which I could understand because it does sound relentless.

Jonathan Foreman says the movie is a "product of a distinctly perverted sensibility", but "Nor do I believe it will provoke pogroms, if only because the film is probably too slow to work as rabble-rousing propaganda, whatever the intentions of its maker"---emphasis mine. He goes on to describe small details in the film that he claims are historically inaccurate.

Lou Lumenick gives a more positive review but also compares Gibson to Leni Riefenstahl who made positive films about Hitler.

The Post also had two pages of average people quoted after watching the film. These non-experts said:
"I'd give it 10 stars. It's one of the best movies I've ever seen in my life," said Maritza Castro, 32, who had tears streaming down her face as she left a preview screening for church groups at the Magic Johnson Theater in Harlem. "

"Yanira Gonzalez, 39, hugged her husband, Pete, outside the Magic Johnson Theater.
"It was very powerful. If you don't know Jesus, by the time you finish watching this movie, you definitely will," she said."

Guess whose opinions I trust?? And check out the photo of the young couple hugging each other after the viewing. Obviously this film is dangerous!

Then at lunch, I read the reviews in the Daily News and Newsday which were more of the same. I guess it was too much to hope that the bigotry would be put aside and the reviewers would give professional reports on the movie. Jami Bernard in the Daily News says:
"Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ" is the most virulently anti-Semitic movie made since the German propaganda films of World War II." but "once you strip away all the controversy and religious fervor - is a technically proficient account of the last 12 hours in the life of Jesus of Nazareth."

See that? the damn thing has "religious fervor", no wonder it must be stopped!!

Of course the Catholic League is on the case and in a wonderful press release, points out the opinions of these same reviewers on past violent, bloody films.


So let me get this straight, the movie is no good because it does not stick to the Bible, is too violent, historically inaccurate, contains 'religious fervor' and is anti-semitic? Little to no mention of acting, lighting, music, plot, action, etc.. These reviews have made up my mind about a few things:

1) I am going to join the Catholic League
2) I am not only going to see the movie on Friday night but also pay for extra tickets just to help sales
3) I will never listen to any complaints of "anti-semitism" ever again
4) I am going to attend the traditional latin Mass on Sundays

#1 and # 4 were both in my head for awhile and these reviews just made me determined to do them. # 2 and # 3 only occurred to me after reading the reviews

Check out this page to see what one Catholic school is doing with Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ.

Yesterday was a relatively nice day so I figured I would go to Huntington and stroll around the village with my girlfriend. Huntington is a village on the north shore that in some ways is like Greenwich Village: nice shops, artsy-fartsy stuff, nice bars and restaurants. My girlfriend had never been to Book Revue which is one of the few large, independent bookstores still doing well. I knew we would enjoy a leisurely few hours in the store browsing the shelves and having coffee at the bookstore cafe. Little did we know that we would get there just before Sean Hannity was to give a talk and booksigning! There were hundreds of people there and half the store was basically blocked off by the crowd. I had no desire to stay and hear the talk so we will have to go back some other time, first making sure there will no be celebrities there. Had I known he was going to be there I might have arranged the day differently and gone to see him. Sean Hannity is a Long Islander and has been rather successful. I appreciate the fact that he is publicly Catholic and has spoken favorably of his Catholic upbringing and education. Many bloggers commented favorably when Sean went on his Foxnews show with ashes on his forehead last Ash Wednesday.

Catholic Bloggers in Brooklyn

Pete Vere of Envoy Encore and Catholic Light invited locals to join him this past Friday night since he was in town for an Order of the Alhambra meeting. I made the trip to Brooklyn and joined Aristotle the Recovering Choir Director, Patrick the Extreme Catholic, St. Blog commentators Rosemarie (of Mystical Rose) and BenYachov and their 2 wonderful children. It was a very nice time, filled with talk of things Catholic, the blogosphere, etc.. Patrick gave out brochures for the Catholic Evidence Guild which was founded in London but recently renewed in New York by Fr. Benedict Groeschel. For a brief minute I was even able to wear Pete Vere's infamous fez. The night was enjoyable and I hope there will be more St. Blog meetups such as this.

Catholic officials find textbooks wanting

"A church committee that studies the material found that some of the textbooks avoid saying adultery and premarital sex are sins. Others depict the Bible as little more than a history book, the group says.

That's not all: It claims one textbook explains that Jesus' miracles were the result of luck. "

Coverage of anything Catholic is so biased and silly that I am surprised anytime you read a real report. This article just gives the facts of the committee's report, and even mentions Ignatius Press.

Report: Gibson Expands 'Passion' Screens

"LOS ANGELES -- Mel Gibson is adding 800 theaters to the debut of his controversial Crucifixion drama, "The Passion of the Christ," next Wednesday. "

I am going to see this movie just to support a man who is getting tons of grief just for creating something based on his faith. It better be good, I don't like the sound of how violent it is.

Father Benedict Groeschel is back in New York!

Thanks to A Catholic Blog for Lovers (Most Pious Blog 2004!) for pointing out this Daily News article about The Passion of The Christ that mentions the good brothers at Chaminade and Kellenberg here.

"It's a meditation on our own inhumanity to each other and how this doesn't destroy God's love," said the Rev. Philip Eichner.

Eichner heads up Kellenberg Memorial High School in Uniondale, L.I., where more than 1,000 upperclassmen plan to go on a 2-mile "pilgrimage" to see the movie on Ash Wednesday.

Eichner, who saw a cut of the movie last summer, thought it was a powerful spiritual statement, despite the violence. "We want our students to see that redemption," he said."

"Brother Thomas Cleary, dean of students at Chaminade High School in Mineola, L.I., said his students had read all about the film and were eager to see it.

About 50 members of the school's Catholic League chapter will go with faculty to see the movie, and Cleary expects the movie will be a hot topic of discussion during one of the school's retreats scheduled for Ash Wednesday."

Fr. Eichner was the president of Chaminade when I attended the school, and Brother Cleary, who graduated a couple of years ahead of me, was in college when I was there. They are Marianists of the Province of Meribah which was formed in the 1970's by some Marianists of the Province of New York. The community has flourished since then. If anything I write on this blog is good it is due to the education I received from the brothers, and anything bad is my own fault.

Two interesting things in The Long Island Catholic today:

George Weigel on Andrew Greeley and Young Fogeys

And an Open Letter from Bishop Murphy on the history of accused priests in the Diocese since its founding in 1957. I find these statistics to be the most interesting:

The percentage of accusations by the decade in which the incidents occurred are:
7% during the 1950s;
26% during the 1960s;
29% during the 1970s;
23% during the 1980s;
14% during the 1990s;
1% during the 2000s.


1.6% of priests serving the Diocese in the 1950s;
4.0% of priests serving in the 1960s;
3.6% of priests serving in the 1970s;
1.7% of priests serving in the 1980s;
1.0% of priests serving in the 1990s;
0.6% of priests serving in the 2000s.

So this means the real major problem occurred in the 60's and 70's. The report does not say it, but the percentage of child molestation claims against priests since Bishop Murphy has been here = 0.00%.

Bishop William Murphy disclosed yesterday that 132 persons said they were sexually abused by 66 Catholic priests and religious brothers since the diocese was founded in 1957.

"The 42 priests accused represent 2.08 percent of all the priests who have ever served in the diocese. The alleged abuse incidents peaked in the 1970s when 29 percent occurred; 26 percent occurred in the 1960s and 23 percent in the 1980s, the report said. "

That is pretty much what I figured, most of the abuse occurred in the 60's and 70's. The report does not say it, but none of the abuse occurred under Bishop Murphy's tenure here. So far I have seen a lot of the figures broken down, but none that break down the sex of the abuse victims. I would like to know what percentage were boys and what percentage were girls.

Church of the Masses points out a couple of great articles (Here, then a followup) slamming Roger Friedman's Foxnews thingy1 and thingy2 on The Passion of The Christ distribution. How do people get away with printing such garbage?? I think blogs have a higher level of fact checking! David Poland said Friedman should be fired and I thought that was a bit much but look at this:

"Mel Gibson couldn't find anyone to make "The Passion of the Christ," so he put up $25 million of his own money to produce it."
-I don't think he ever looked for anyone to make it-he produced it from the beginning by choice?

"The Passion" is now the most expensive vanity production in history."
-Dead wrong

"The theaters they have chosen in Jewish areas are minimal — none, for example, on Long Island near Valley Stream and the Five Towns or Great Neck and Roslyn — but screens in more friendly places like Merrick, Lynbrook and Seaford."

-EXXXXXXCUUUUUSE ME????????

Towns where the movies is showing compared to the towns he cites:

Lynbrook is 12 minutes (4.77 miles) from the Five Towns area
Lynbrook is 5 minutes (2.20 miles) from Valley Stream
Port Washington is 17 minutes (5.28 miles) from Great Neck
Port Washington is 13 minutes (4.38 miles) from Roslyn

And: The movie is showing in Seaford, which is in between Massapequa and Bellmore, both of which have large Jewish populations. Also, Merrick is both heavily Jewish and upscale. Who does Friedman's fact checking--The former minister of information from Iraq???

"They have booked "The Passion of the Christ" at the Metro on Broadway and West 100th Street — a grimy two-screen house used for second runs and considered a throwaway by distributors. Ironically, it stares at two Orthodox synagogues that reside within a block. It will be interesting to see how the movie plays in that neighborhood. "

Across from two Orthodox synagogues....but I thought it was not showing in Jewish areas??

Are people in other parts of the country aware that the Statue of Liberty has not been open since September 11th, 2001? Read the details about the campaign to raise the money needed to re-open the statue here.

Coach Charged In Assault of Student

"I think I am somewhere between Howard Stern and St. Francis of Assisi on the scale of morality"

-Mel Gibson

My favorite line from a GREAT interview.

Apologia pro Murphy

I have used this humble space to “defend” Bishop Murphy in the past. The attacks on the bishop come mostly from dissenters and Catholics who know very little Catholicism so I mostly ignore them. However, recently even some good Catholics have joined in the bashing. It is unfortunate that many good Catholics put him in the category of “bad shepherd” as Mark Shea did recently. I am not one to defend bishops or to care too much about what they do. I think the notion that bishops can “control” the actions of their priests right down to making sure they say their prayers and are in bed by 9 pm is nuts. If there is a Bishop whose actions are to be deplored in this Diocese it is Bishop McGann, but he has gone to his reward. Murphy seems to get attacked mostly for not allowing Voice of the Faithful to meet on Church property, and for coming from Boston. I don’t have a problem with either of these things. The fact is: Murphy is as close to a Bruskewitz or Chaput as we are likely to get. And compared to previous leadership, we are very lucky indeed. When Bishop Murphy first came here (a few days before 400 of his flock were killed by Crusading Muslims), he announced that if the seminary were not run according to the dictates of the Church, then he would shut it down. This was music to Catholics’ ears since for years this seminary was notorious for faulty teaching. There have been some changes made in the faculty that I take as good signs. Bishop Murphy has also allowed the Traditional Latin Mass to be offered weekly rather than monthly, which is a huge shift from previous policy. Bishop McGann invited Fr. Richard McBrien to speak to all the priests, while Bishop Murphy invited Fr. Benedict Groeschel. Of course, Murphy has to deal with the dozens of staff members left over from the McGann days and this has slowed the progress considerably. But the fact remains that progress has occurred. A bishop is not the be-all and end-all that some seem to think he is. The fact is that the bishop provides leadership and the people do most of the work. In this diocese the people have failed just as much as the bishops.

LIers Torn Apart Over Haiti

Please pray for peace in Haiti. There are many Haitians here on Long Island and they are nice, hard working, lovely people who also happen to be some of the most devout Catholics I have ever met.

Roger Friedman on the Foxnews website says: "Theater-goers will also be hard-pressed to find 'The Passion of the Christ' in Nassau County, Long Island on either the south or north shore". Since I live here and plan to go with a group of people I checked to see if this were true. Turns out I have a choice of going to Glen Cove, Lynbrook, Merrick, Port Washington, Seaford, or 2 different theaters in Westbury. Glen Cove and Port Washington are both on the north shore and Seaford, Lynbrook and Merrick are both on the South Shore. Westbury is right in the middle. None of these places are more than 30 minutes away from me. 2 of them are within 15 minutes from me. The movie is also showing in Farmingdale where I usually go to see movies, and this is only 15 minutes away but in Suffolk County.

Amy Welborn links to an article on traditional Catholics, focusing on an SSPX chapel in LA. The reporter is one of many who are shocked, shocked! to find that traditional Catholics are not wackos living in bomb shelters but normal people with faith trying to raise families. The article has some interesting things in it, including quotes from people who claim to go to the chapel after experiencing horrible corruption in the Church proper. This would include the pastor of the SSPX chapel who was in a seminary in the late 1970's. My favorite part of the article is:

"The thing is, all the fuss over the Gibsons can distort what Catholic traditionalism is about. Mel Gibson is Southern California's only traditionalist star, but he isn't Southern California's only traditionalist. In some 20 or so chapels such as Radecki's, spread out from San Diego to Santa Clarita, hundreds of faithful congregate for the Latin Masses on Sundays and send their kids to traditional Catholic schools during the week. They're young and old, black and white, Latino and Asian, rich and poor. They are a fractious bunch—these are, after all, folks who have taken the radical step of breaking away from Rome—and they differ somewhat in their takes on the pope, the "conciliar church" (as they call mainstream Catholicism), and each other. At the same time, they're united in their disdain for the new Mass and for what they perceive as a grievously liberal Catholic Church.

It can seem like an unforgiving way to live, a lifestyle completely unsuited to our times. But the funny thing is, when you talk it through with people such as Father Radecki, you start to understand where they're coming from. Press accounts about Hutton Gibson notwithstanding, most traditionalists don't seem to be conspiracy theorists, or kooks. They're strict and rigid, but they're not nuts or hostile. They're just very traditional people who want to pray and live in a certain, just-so way. They find a way to make it work in the modern world."

Et tu Fox News?

The Catholic League sends me an email alerting me to this silly article by Roger Freidman on the Foxnews website. I am sure they won't mind me posting the entire press release:

FOX NEWS TWISTS FACTS ON GIBSON FILM


The Fox News Channel website has an article today by Roger Friedman that takes Mel Gibson to task for selectively distributing “The Passion of the Christ.” After detailing where the movie will be shown, he then says Gibson “consciously created a divisive atmosphere for the presentation of his film.” He also charges, “All this seems designed to keep ‘The Passion of the Christ’ out of neighborhoods that are considered Jewish, upscale, or liberal.”


Here’s how Catholic League president William Donohue responded:


“Roger Friedman says the movie will be shown in two Chicago theaters; in fact it will be shown in seven. He says it will not be shown in the L.A. neighborhood of Century City; in fact it will be shown at the AMC in Century City. He says it will not be shown in the ‘wealthier and trendier parts’ of Los Angeles; in fact it will be shown in Marina del Rey, Burbank and Santa Monica. He says it will not be shown in New York’s Upper West Side; in fact it will be shown at 86th and Broadway. He says it will be shown only in the ‘fringe areas’ of the Upper East Side; in fact it will be shown at 86th and 3rd and 64th and 2nd. He says it will be shown at one theater below 34th Street; in fact it will be shown at three. He says it will be hard to find in Nassau County, Long Island; in fact it will be shown in seven theaters there. He says that theater- goers will be ‘hard pressed’ to find it in ‘either the south or north shore’ of Long Island; in fact it will be shown in towns like Glen Cove and Port Washington on the north shore and Merrick and Seaford on the south shore. He says those who live in Westchester will also find it difficult to see the movie; in fact it will be shown in Larchmont, New Rochelle and Yonkers. And so on.


“Taking a course in Geography 101 might cure some of Friedman’s problems, but it would not be enough. That’s because his forced conclusion suggests something else is at work: to say that Gibson is intentionally keeping the film away from Jews and the rich is not only flatly wrong, it smacks of malice. We look for Fox to correct itself.”

Just Do It!

That is the slogan for Nike, the company that paid millions of dollars to St. John's University in exchange for the school forcing all athletes to wear clothing with the Nike symbol. At the time of this contract, a student sued the school claiming Nike's labor practices violated the teaching of the Catholic Church and that he was forbidden to write an editorial in a school newspaper about this . (The lawsuit was dismissed). I wish the president of St. John's, Rev. Donald J. Harrington, would follow Nike's slogan and just do what he said he would: get rid of the men's basketball program altogether. He was quoted as saying that if the mess surrounding the team could not be fixed, then he would just do it. The overemphasis on sports, especially mens' basketball, combined with the underemphasis on the Catholic identity of the school, has resulted in a university that is not worth supporting. As a graduate of St. John's I hope the school could do away with the expensive basketball program and concentrate on the two things I always felt was needed most of all:

--strong academics

--strong Catholic culture


On the other hand, since the school is barely Catholic, I don't care too much what does on there. I will continue to support real Catholic colleges and universities such as Franciscan University, Christendom, Magadelen, Thomas Aquinas, and the new Ave Maria. Incidents such as the one involving the St. John's basketball players (and the lacrosse players when I was a student) just prove how off track St. John's and other so called Catholic universities are.

After attending the Latin Mass Magazine conference last Sunday, I was once again struck by how much I agree with traditionalist Catholics. From Open Book comes the news that a Catholic Church was allowing Buddhists to chant and sell books in a Basilica. A first hand account is here and it is must reading. A group of Catholics, members of an SSPX parish, went in and prayed the Rosary in an attempt to stop this nonsense. The SSPX priest was asked to speak and he did so beautifully. What a witness to the Faith! What a sad thing to see people who stopped a travesty be attacked by good Catholics who yell that they are in schism! Meanwhile Mel Gibson, reportedly an independent traditionalist, is putting his faith into the public eye in a huge way. Why? Why is it that the traditionalists seem to be the ones on the front line? Why is it that they fight against horrors in the Church and are then attacked by people who 3 years ago were supporting pedophile priests? Why is it that I can attend my local parish never knowing what nonsense I will have to endure but every single time I attend the local "indult" traditional latin Mass I experience nothing but beautiful Liturgy? It seems to me that the so called traditionalists are leading the way to restoring the sacred in the Catholic Church and instead of attacking them we should be thanking them.

Keep checking The Passion of the Christ website for the list of theatres showing the movie. At first only 1 movie theatre in all of Manhattan was listed but now there are 7. Long Island had 4 theatres listed originally, but now the number is 13.

I added Otto-da-Fe to my bloglist, which I have been meaning to get around to doing. There is a post there today about Newsday being accused of inflating their circulation to charge advertisers more. There is a $100 million federal racketeering lawsuit filed against the paper. I saw this today and was tempted to post about it, since the paper is so anti-Catholic it would give me some of that schadenfreude stuff. I worked as a temp at Newsday during my college years and one job I did there was to scan barcodes from the returned "unsold" papers. I was amazed at how many unsold papers there were but the charges are just charges, and my gut tells me the case may not go anywhere.

I went to the Latin Mass Magazine conference in Montvale, New Jersey yesterday with fellow blogger Aristotle of Confessions of a Recovering Choir Director. The conference was good as usual, with intelligent speakers and great food. I was a bit disappointed in Michael Davies' talk however, since he mostly mentioned sad statistics on the state of the Church. He did mention some good things that have occurred in recent years but overall the forecast was rather gloomy, and the info was nothing new. I did manage to purchase two of his books and get them signed. He was a bit perplexed by my polish surname, apparently the English don't normally string a few constanants together --they really should try it. The books are Lead Kindly Light The Life of John Henry Newman and Saint John Fisher ($10 each!!!). This year's conference did not have the oomph of last year, which featured Chris Ferrara and Michael S. Rose, but it was nonetheless stimulating.

Finally! I have mentioned Dave Armstrong's Biblical Evidence for Catholicism as an important website in my return to the faith. His store of information is incredible, and he unknowingly introduced me to Chesterton, Belloc, Newman, etc.. I always wondered if he would blog, and now he has:

Cor ad cor loquitur

Check out the love poem of an atheist by Carl E. Olsen of Envoy Encore

I take no pride in saying I graduated from St. John's University. Academically and spiritually it is not a good school. While I was a student there, several lacrosse players were accused of raping a woman in one of the jocks' apartment. Tonight, on the way home from work I heard that 3 of the school's basketball players are now accused of rape. This is a good reason why Franciscan University of Steubenville gets my donation money and not my alma mater.

Update: Now the woman who made the accusation has been charged with lying. St. John's is still not a good Catholic school though.

Good News (from Long Island!!!)

Forget the boobs who sang at the Superbowl. (Sorry) Fr. Charles Mangano and his sister Laurie have made albums and sang in concert many times for charity. Their Christmas show at Westbury Music Fair raised $70,000, half going to Little Flower Children's Services and half going to The Life Center of Long Island. The Life Center is expanding into my neighborhood and that brings up an interesting story. It seems a pro-life elderly gentleman had the misfortune of living in a run down house in a commercial area. In the shopping center right across from his house, a Planned Parenthood opened. The man makes sure a pro-life organization gets his house: The Life Center of Long Island who renovate and expand it. They are almost ready to open a center for women which will include a sonogram machine! Of course, Planned Parenthood is not happy, this article describes just one of the moves they made to try to stop The Life Center from opening in Massapequa.

"Religion of Peace"

Hundreds Trampled to Death at Hajj Ritual

Homicide Bombers Strike Kurdish Party Offices in Iraq

STOP IT FOR THE LOVE OF GOD!!!!!

Our Diocese, which Bishop McGann almost destroyed, is having a Synod called by the much better Bishop Murphy. The first step is to have listening sessions in each parish, with people writing down their opinions about various aspects of the local Church. ALL opinions are put on the website for all to see. This is a completely useless waste of time! The saying is true: Opinions are like buttholes, everyone has one. The opinions are horrible and many times not even literate. The only thing this is doing is showing the ignorance of Catholics on Long Island.

Worst example so far (From the section on Liturgy):

"We need larger Communion hosts. I get hungry in Mass and the hosts are really good so I think we need larger ones. It will help keep people interested because when someone is hungry all they do is think of eating and not about Church when they are hungry in Church. They should also come in different flavors."

WooHoo!

The Passion of the Christ is coming to a theater near me. I have a choice of Lynbrook, Stony Brook, Rockville Centre, or Westbury. Although I am disappointed that it is not at as widely distributed as I thought it would be. It is only showing in 1 theater in Manhattan!! It is also rated R "For sequences of graphic violence".

MEDIA SPIN OVER “THE PASSION”

“In short, there are no liberal critics of ‘The Passion’; there are only ‘conservatives’ who like it. Similarly, those who complain about anti-Christian films are anti-Semitic, and those who like good Christian films are also anti-Semitic. The upshot is that most Americans are anti-Semitic. Either that or those who hate Christians have no problem getting a job in the media.”

A local "Parish Voice" of the Long Island Voice of the Faithful had a meeting at a local park. A priest from New Jersey spoke, blah blah blah. The date of this meeting? January 22nd. Well it's not like any Voice of the Faithful would have anything else to do that day.

DEMAND FOR “THE PASSION” TICKETS EXPLODES

Memo to Bill Donohue: This type of stuff works both ways: although I think you are the best, when the Catholic League protests a movie too loudly there are those that are encouraged to see the thing.

4th Mepham Football Player Arrested

FINALLY!

"Earlier this month, a Pennsylvania judge sentenced Phil Sofia, 17, to a four-month stint at a boot camp and his accomplice Ken Carney, 16, to a juvenile detention center, also for four months. Tom Diasparra, 16, who cut a plea deal with prosecutors, got probation and was freed.
The three were accused of taking part in the brutal hazing attacks on two 13-year-olds and a 14-year-old in August. The victims were sodomized with pine cones, golf balls and a broomstick dipped in Mineral Ice.
Sources said authorities expect to arrest a fifth attacker in the coming weeks."



A 4th jock from the Mepham High School football team was arrested in the rape and torture attacks that occurred in August 2003. Rich Guccione was his name and he would have been arrested earlier but the paperwork was lost! The article states that a 5th suspect is expected to be arrested soon. This will probably be Nick Paris. Guccione and Paris were known on the web as suspects since at least November. Why did it take so long for the police and prosecutors to charge these guys when there were Mepham students publishing their names on the internet for months???? It can't be that hard to get high school jocks to talk.

Bishop Murphy Hears the Voices of His Priests

Good piece printed in Newsday's editorial section by the Diocese of Rockville Centre's spokeswoman, Joanne Novarro. Another article in the paper today announced that Novarro has quit this job, understandably, she needed some quiet time with her family.

Many bloggers have posted the comments of the new Cardinal Gustaaf Joos who said that most gays were sexual perverts and only a small percentage true homosexuals. But most did not mention his more interesting comments:

"Asked about the merits of democracy, he said, "Politics, democracy. Don't make me laugh.
"The right to vote, what is that all about? I think it is curious a snot-nosed, 18-year-old has the same vote as a father of seven. One has no responsibilities whatsoever, the other provides tomorrow's citizens."

He should have his own tv show.

Today I attended the traditional Latin Mass - I thought the post-Communion prayer was nice:

"Quos tantis, Domine, largiris uti mysteriis: quaesumus; ut effectibus nos eorum veraciter aptare digneris."

"Grant, Lord, that we who by Your generosity are admitted to frequent these great mysteries, may be made fit to profit by them as we ought."

Air Force Honors Slain Chaplain

"Yesterday, Air Force members from the 514th Air Mobility Wing at McGuire Air Force Base in New Jersey dedicated an administrative building to Penzes, who served them as a reservist and chaplain for 28 years. It was the first time the U.S. Air Force had ever dedicated a building to a chaplain, said Brig. Gen. Christopher Joniec, who unveiled the plaque that will honor Penzes."

Fr. Penzes was the Catholic priest shot to death by a sick man who was not taking his meds. It was a horrible situation, Fr. Penzes was a good priest and a wonderful elderly woman attending Mass was also killed.

Mel Gibson's Passion of the Christ made the front page of the NY Daily News today:

Love, hate & furor
Controversy grows over Mel Gibson's 'Passion'

"Against unbelievable odds, "The Passion of the Christ" is now shaping up to be the hottest ticket in the history of Hollywood when it finally hits theaters on Ash Wednesday, Feb. 25."

That statement is a bit over the top!

"The New York-based Catholic League bought 1,200 tickets at $9.75 apiece and will make them available to members for $5."
"We could probably sell 10,000 of these tickets," said Catholic League President William Donohue. "The reason I'm subsidizing it is to make a point - it's important to see this movie. And it's to drive Mel's critics crazy."

Bill Donohue is so refreshingly blunt!

"There were rumblings that Gibson's labor of love was a $25 million vanity project, something along the lines of John Travolta's "Battlefield Earth."

Heaven Forbid!!

Fr. Benedict Groeschel

When I began my journey back to the faith, I read a couple of books by Fr. Groeschel including the excellent The Reform of the Renewal. His intelligence and humor really impressed me. The first discovery I made of something orthodox and local was the Americans United for the Pope lectures at Kellenberg High School. At the second lecture I attended a man spoke briefly about a retreat he was running in the high school retreat house which would be led by Fr. Groeschel. He would be there the entire weekend so I could not pass up this opportunity. He was excellent and just as funny and intelligent as expected. I have since spent two weekends on retreats with him and heard him speak a few more times at the school. In December he had another retreat at the school but I passed it up since I had already been to two retreats and had some things I needed to do. I did however make plans to hear him speak on that Sunday, but alas, it snowed heavily and my friend and I decided not to risk the drive. Now of course we wish we had risked it since my friend has never heard Fr. Groeschel in person. Now that he has had this serious accident, I am realizing just how much he has meant to my spiritual journey. Here are some things from Fr. Groeschel that have stuck in my mind-please keep in mind these are mostly from my memory so they are paraphrases and may not be 100% accurate:

Gen X Revert: “How are you Father?”
Fr. Groeschel: (shrugging shoulders) “Ehhh…I’m old”

From Arise from Darkness:

“No one lives the Christian life perfectly. In my life I've known dumb Jesuits, confused Dominicans, proud Capuchins, rich Franciscans, and Salesians who can't stand small children. I've known merciless Sisters of Mercy and uncharitable Missionaries of Charity and foolish Daughters of Wisdom.”

On being called a “conservative” priest: “I don’t want to conserve anything …I want to blow the whole thing up!”

On dressing for Mass: “The middle class dress like they are going to the beach and the upper class dress like they are coming from the beach”

On meeting Mother Theresa for the first time: “I thought she was so ugly she was almost cute”

On his funeral: “If people at my funeral talk about me like I am already in Heaven, or the music is too sappy, I am going to get up out of that coffin and scare the daylights out of everyone!!”

On hearing, along with a Rabbi friend, at an outdoor Easter service, a minister preach that whether the physical resurrection of the body actually happened is not important: “I wanted to push the minister over the cliff, but then thought of the headlines- Priest Kills Minister While Rabbi Looks On”.

On Youth 2000: “I belong to Youth 1950”

On his community: “Our median age is 37 and if I drop dead tonight it will go down to 25”.

On translation: “In the old canon we said ‘From the rising of the sun to its dimunition,( to its setting)’-a beautiful poetic phrase, now we say ‘From East to West’. Whenever I hear that East to West I think of I-80!”

On the younger guys of his community: “The younger men in this community are so good I feel like I don’t deserve them. One guy I teach is so good, so holy, that on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception I wish him a Happy Name Day”.

On Reform from Scandal to Hope: “The fact is that the great majority of laity are more traditional and devout than they have been permitted to be by those who saw renewal as the principal object of Christian life.”

On the scandals from Scandal to Hope: “Does all this scandal shake your faith in the Church? I hope so, because ultimately your faith should not be in the Church. Ultimately our faith is in Jesus Christ, and we accept the Church. We support the Church. We believe in and belong to the Church because Christ established it on His apostles.”

The Off the Record blog of the Catholic World News has a post about Bishop Murphy and his meeting with his priests. This line is so very true:

"Rockville Centre is a remarkable diocese. With 1.5 million Catholics, it should be a showcase of ministry in the Catholic Church."

I have said this before on this blog, our diocese should be one that is pumping out Catholic priests, nuns, brothers and lay leaders like crazy. There is no reason why the Diocese of Lincoln, Nebraska should have more seminarians than us, considering they have a fraction of the Catholic population! We are an example of how dissent and poor leadership can ruin the local Church. And there is great potential in this diocese. (more on that later)

One thing I disagree with in the post is the take on Bishop Murphy's new bishops residence. He took over the top floor of a 3 story building that was being renovated. This renovation was going on before he ever got to Long Island and it involved many buildings on the grounds of St. Agnes Cathedral, which used to house a high school. It just makes sense for the Bishop to live here rather than in the $950,000 home that Bishop McGann lived in. This home had been left to McGann by his family and was located in the residential area of Rockville Centre. When the Diocese sells this thing, it will pay for the renovation or at least cover most of the cost. Maybe our bishops residence should not have expensive furniture and a large industrial kitchen for large dinner parties, but I don't see why not. Would decor by Ikea make us any holier?? I am sure the Bishop could have lived in the Cathedral rectory and maybe that would have been my choice, but this residence issue is not worth much debate. Bishop Murphy is not perfect, but he is the most orthodox Bishop this Diocese has ever had, at least in my lifetime. I have seen some improvement under Murphy and this improvement is what really causes Bob Keeler, Dick Ryan, Voice of the Faithful and the like to moan and complain.

Distributism

I became aware of Distributism.org from El Camino Real and enjoy reading the site. I agree very much with some of the ideas presented but disagree with others. The first quote on the home page is awesome:

"If working people can be encouraged to look forward to obtaining a share in the land, the consequence will be that the gulf between vast wealth and sheer poverty will be bridged over, and the respective classes will be brought nearer to one another."

--Rerum Novarum by Pope Leo XIII, 1891

From what I can see this idea exists in reality in the USA where home ownership is at an all time high. The ability of people to move from being uneducated and poor to being educated and middle class is greatest here. My own grandfather never went past the 6th grade, dropping out of school to help support his family by working in the family bar. Today many of his grandchildren are college educated and most own homes. The ability to own a house and some land is greater here than perhaps any other country although house prices have increased beyond the reach of many younger people within the past 10 years. This is especially true here on Long Island where houses are regularly sold for more than $200,000. The idea in life is to allow the greatest number of people to own houses and some property, which distributism advocates.



The definition of Distributism on the website is good: “Distributism is an economic system in which private property, (especially the 'means of production'), is well distributed, in which as many people as possible are actual owners.” Again I can whole-heartedly endorse this idea. In fact, the rise in the number of employee owned companies is a testament to this idea. I can remember the buzz generated a few years back when Home Depot became real popular with its program of employees owning stock in the corporation. I think the major obstacle to this is the reality of human interaction. Even if I owned several thousand dollars worth of stock in my company, would I really be willing to stand up at a meeting and give strong opinions?? How long would I last when my ideas butt up against another employee’s ambitions? I have personally seen people buy stocks and become more interested in the economy and the direction of businesses so I know that ownership does mean something. The ideal is to have as many people as possible own their own businesses. As far as property goes, especially in developing countries there has to be a way not only for people to own it, but also the education to manage it or produce from it.


The section of the website I have the most difficulty with is the section on the practical suggestions to making distributism happen. I see no good coming from abolishing all government relief and pension programs –as flawed as many of these are, they have made some strides in lessening poverty. Social Security for example has meant that the elderly are no longer the severe poor and most severe poor are no longer elderly. I see no point in allowing a person to only have one bank account. Also, while usury is an evil, not all lender institutions and lending of capital is usurious. I like the idea of guilds but they will become corrupt like unions have and then they are no better than that which they were meant to replace. All in all, I love the site and the ideas of distributism are fascinating but I think the whole philosophy needs to be updated for the modern economy. Distributism was a good answer to the communist challenge but we now live in a post-communist world. I am very much interested in seeing capitalism reformed so that all may live in a society where it is possible, even easy, to become a saint. Distributism is not the sole answer, but a good start.

The fourth suspect in the Mepham High School rape and torture case is looking for a lawyer now. Meanwhile, another 3 football players from another Long Island school were arrested for violent crimes. Their names are: Joseph Barracato, Daniel Dunphy, and Rocco Tenebruso. Remember what I posted about the culture of Long Island and the failure of Catholics to influence it??

Good news on Fr. Groeschel!

Manuel Vega, Creator Of 'Toucan Sam' Icon RIP

"Vega, who spoke Spanish and English, felt a special connection to the many Latino students in the area, Hartman said. In 1967, Vega became the district coordinator of art and created the annual district arts fairs. More than 30 years later, the fairs still display the talents of Brentwood students every spring."

YES YES YES!!

Mr. Hiss at Otto-Da-Fe has a great post about Bishop Murphy and his critics.

Bishop Murphy met with almost 200 priests yesterday

I don't have much to say about this. It was organized by some of the more liberal priests so I thought it stunk from the beginning. I would guess that nobody mentioned the horrible things that went on in the Diocese of Rockville Centre while Bishop McGann was here. I am just glad there has not been a single priest accused of molesting a child while Bishop Murphy has been here and hope the liberal priests were able to vent their frustrations at losing power, so we can all go back to ignoring them.

I don't know why the Long Island Voice of the Faithful is so concerned with being banned from meeting on Church property. Their February meeting will be held at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation at Shelter Rock in Manhasset, which, considering the type of theologians they promote, seems a perfectly appropriate place.

Browsing the blogs today I noticed that Amy Welborn has shut off her comments in the Life is so complex post to give everyone a rest. I just read through the 106 comments and it is a challenging thread. Rod Dreher, a writer I first encountered when he worked for the NY Post, has commented many times about his dismay over the situation involving Fr. Weinberger in Dallas. Some take him to task over his general attitude in regards the institutional Church. I have to say that I respect and admire Rod Dreher (who is the same age as me, according to one of his comments), both for his writing skills and his public conversion to Catholicism. I think he is right to focus on the corruption within the Church and to be angry about it. However, I also agree with Mark Shea who can't figure out why his children need to be concerned with what a Bishop does. I too, have only met a Bishop in passing and would not see the need to teach children about how corrupt or wrong a Bishop is. Fr. Groeschel is also mentioned and perhaps unfortunately, due to his current situation. Fr. Groeschel is another person I admire and respect a great deal. I heard him speak several times since October, 2001 and found that I disagreed with some of what he had to say regarding the media focus on the child molestation within the ranks of the priesthood. I also noticed a change in his talks about it over the course of the past two years-I think he came to realize the true scope of the problem. Fr. Groeschel is a great priest and has worked hard for reform in the Church. Rod Dreher is a great writer who has also worked hard for reform. The two have the same goals and they could actually learn a lot from each other. The whole thread is a tough one because it focuses on the response of Catholics to the corruption of the Catholic Bishops and people within the Church. Although tough to read, stuff like this is very valuable.

Speaking of challenging ideas:

I will be attending the Latin Mass Magazine conference in Montvale New Jersey on Feb. 8th. (Conference info is not on their website-they probably do not need to advertise as the first two conferences were very well attended. Michael Davies will give one of the talks. Anyone in the area would be advised to attend as the first two were excellent. I hope to hear challenging talks by the speakers as I did the first two years. I thought of this conference while reading the Open Book post because Rod Dreher sounds like the traditionalists at times. They too see the corruption in the Church, perhaps more acutely than most Catholics. I also thought of the conference because one talk at the conference fits right in with the Fr. Paul Weinberger situation:

“Obedience: Wielding a Virtue as a Weapon” by “Father X”.

Now that Ken Carney, Phil Sofia, and Tom Diasparra have been sentenced for leading the rape and torture of younger football players in the Mepham High School football camp, I would like to ponder a few things. Am I the only one who thinks the culture these guys grew up in helped lead to this crime? I do not know the faith or upbringing of Sofia and Diasparra but I do know that Carney's father's funeral was held at St. Barnabas Catholic Church in Bellmore. Ken Carney had been in trouble before and was the ringleader of the assaults. The father had been in and out of jail and died at the age of 40, rumored to be suicide due to distress over his son's crimes. I wonder if these three young men, or any others in the neighborhood ever heard anything about morality or justice or judgment. I wonder if they had been raised with a sense of right and wrong, or if they grew up hearing the “God loves everybody no matter what you do” type of theology. Quite frankly, I am not surprised at anything people do around here because I never thought Long Island had many nice people on it. That sounds harsh but truth is truth. What is worse is that Long Island has more than a million Catholics on it, meaning that the culture of the island should reflect Catholicism to a large degree. I think the failure of the Church to teach its teachings, and for us Catholics to live out those teachings, are what causes this culture to stink. And that can lead to things like Mepham, which is a real shame.

From an email:

Sunday, January 18th, 1:30 - 4:00 pm


This Sunday, at the Church of Holy Innocents on West 37th Street in Manhattan, there will be a Holy Hour beginning at 1:30 pm, the praying of the Rosary at 2:30 pm, and Mass at 3:00 pm, all offered for the intention of Fr. Benedict Groeschel's return to good health.

Fr. Groeschel was scheduled to give a talk and celebrate Mass at Holy Innocents this Sunday. Let's continue to pray for his recovery!

GEN X REVERT - BLOGOVERSARY!

January 18th, 2003 = 1 year

I forget exactly how I discovered it but when I saw Gerard’s list of Catholic Blogs I became hooked on reading them. I then started to comment on many of them and eventually figured I needed to start a blog of my own since commenting was just not enough. I noticed that the blogs in St. Blog’s sometimes contained comments from people who are less than happy with their Catholic upbringing or the horrible “Situation” of corruption in the Church. I had 16 years of Catholic school and never a bad experience in the Church. By starting my own blog I thought I could share the positive things I have found with others and counter the negativity I read. In this aspect my year of blogging was a miserable failure. I fell into the trap of reacting to other posts, news stories, and info on the net and mostly the reactions were critical or negative. I think this is still valuable but I wanted my blog to be positive and it has not always been. For my New Year’s resolution I am going to try to make it more positive, not by ignoring bad stuff or by never criticizing, but by trying to again share some of my positive experiences as a Catholic. I don’t know how much longer I am going to blog, it is still fun but I don’t think I have many profound things to say. I try to stick to areas of life involving Catholicism specifically and leave out other interests. (I am a big Rolling Stones fan-which you might guess from the way I introduced myself in my very first post).

The St. Blog’s parish is filled with wonderful people who can write so well and really make you think. I am going to post some of my old posts just because I find them interesting to re-read a year later. Unfortunately all my old comments are gone since the first commenting system suddenly went awol. I then replaced the second commenting system when it broke down too often. That system just went out and now I am back with Haloscan. In the 1 year of blogging I have only had one troll place a stupid comment about not liking Catholics which I deleted. I am insulted by this because I would have thought I would have attracted more angry anti-Catholics. Oh well, I guess my writing is not strong enough or my opinions good enough to be attracting trolls. It has been fun doing this and I have appreciated any comments left by readers. I especially like the fact that I have met people (real live people!!) through this blog, which just blew me away. I don’t read many blogs outside the parish but from what I can see, the most popular blogs are political in nature. Politics bores me-if religion is the last refuge of the scoundrel, then politics is the first. From what I can see, St. Blog’s parish has the most humorous, most deep, most thoughtful and thought-provoking bloggers around. I am proud to be a very small part of it.

Fr. Glenn Sudano will call in to EWTN Live tonight to speak about Fr. Groeschel.

The article from Crisis Magazine with an inside look at the Long Island Voice of the Faithful is now online. I found this out by going to the Catholic World News blog. Check it out for yourself and tell me if you agree the author was very fair, balanced, and did a good job exposing the bias of a group that COULD do some good things in the Church. If only they were orthodox....

One thing that I would like to point out: the article mentions Richard McBrien being invited to speak to the group. Bishop McGann, the bishop who shuffled abusive priests around and lead the diocese when most of the abuse occurred, also invited McBrien to speak. This was at a meeting of all the priests of the diocese many years ago. Why would a group want to follow the same path of the Bishop who was responsible for the mess the diocese is in?? Interestingly, Bishop Murphy, the Bishop under whom there has been no cases of abuse by priests, invited Fr. Benedict Groeschel to speak to priests soon after he came here.

Please pray for Fr. Benedict Groeschel last night (Sun) he was in a car accident in Florida. I have read his books, attended 2 retreats with him, and heard him speak many times, he is one of the best. He is also a wonderful guy to talk to - a very good spiritual leader. He is in critical condition, please pray.

Mepham Sentencing Set for Next Week

"The three Mepham High School football players who admitted to sexually assaulting younger teammates will learn their fate at a court hearing in Pennsylvania next week, sources said yesterday."

This local case of rape and torture has brought national attention to the violent crimes committed by high school jocks. Fortunately that may bring pressure on schools to do something about this common problem.

Parents begin to fight back against hazing

"My wife teaches at a Catholic school," James Meeker says. "I'm captain of an American Airlines widebody, and went to the Air Force Academy. I've coached kids. I've been president of the PTSA. If we're getting blown off by the school district, what chance do single parents have?"

N. Massapequa mother accused of killing her baby may have killed another child

This is one of the reasons that members of the ambulance medical technicians unit of the Nassau County Police department started the Children of Hope Foundation. I think it would be a good idea to link the Children of Hope site. Their profile follows:

"We were founded by members of the Ambulance Medical Technicians of the Nassau County Police Department. After a series of cases of infanticide in Nassau County, the emotional impact began taking its toll, on ourselves as well as the community. We sought a level of closure, peace and hope. Looking after these unfortunate victims of a society gone astray through a dignified burial gave us a sense of healing from this pain. We turned our focus toward the despondent people who would commit such a horrible desperate act. Our effort to enlighten these people to other means of solving their problems is the driving force of the Foundation. Although this is a huge undertaking, we believe that doing nothing, as more infants are found abandoned shortly after birth, would be a far greater tragedy."

MEL GIBSON AND THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST

When Chris from Maine Catholic and Beyond first asked for nominations for Catholic of the Year I suggested Mel Gibson, almost half in jest. When others listed their nominees I felt they might be better choices. When the final list of nominees was posted I checked it and read the question 3 times just to make sure and then I voted for Mel. I was stunned to see Mel in the lead, with 55% of the votes at the time. The more I thought about it the more I was convinced – Mel Gibson, of Lethal Weapon, Mad Max, Braveheart and Signs fame, had the greatest impact on the Faith during 2003. No other person stimulated such discussion about Catholicism or the Faith. Barbara Nicolosi hit the nail on the head in her interview on Godspy:

“When I was watching The Passion I thought, in this particular moment, where we're coming out of the priest sex scandal and all the rest, the Church in a slumber -we've negotiated terms with the world in every quadrant, we've just settled in. We're not leaven in the dough, we are the dough. We're mostly indistinguishable from "the world" in so many places, in every profession. All of a sudden this movie comes out.”

Mel is doing exactly what Vatican II called Catholics to do: take our faith into the modern world and act as leaven. I believe the film is doing that even though it was not released in 2003. The irony of a man who returned to the faith through the pre-conciliar Mass is not at all lost on me. It says more than anything about the state of the Church. What other Catholic was so public with their faith?? What other Catholic took the faith into their public work with such success? (Barbara Hall with her Joan of Arcadia, Maggie Gallagher, Rod Dreher, Fr. Fessio, Deal Hudson, Tom Monaghan, and Peggy Noonan are the only others that come to mind). If the question was worded differently I would have made another choice, but I believe the person with the most impact for the year was Gibson. Mel has sparked more debate on things Catholic than anything else this year and therefore I think it is right that he won this poll. The other person who should have been nominated, and I only thought of this now, was Tom Monaghan. By announcing the creation of Ave Maria University he has given hope to many that a truly Catholic University will be built. This has sparked some grumbling by the Catholic University establishment and, as Martha would say, that is a good thing.

One more comment on the Passion movie -- I think what some Catholic critics are really worried about in this movie is the public, outright, unabashed, total and traditional Catholicism in it. These types seem to me to be self-hating Catholics who do not want any type of traditional Catholicism in the public view except if it has been filtered through a politically correct lense.

Several St. Blog's parishioners have mentioned the assignment of Reg Cawcutt to a parish even after all he has said and done. Perhaps the only thing that will get him out of the priesthood for good is if he says a Mass in Latin - it seems this Church is only interesting in keeping the bad priests and not the good ones. The Secret Agent Man has a great post on this situation.

I just received the January 2004 issue of Crisis Magazine and it has the article by Danny DeBruin about his time with the Long Island Voice of the Faithful. The article is not yet online. Just as I thought the local group is tilted toward those who support dissent. Every invited speaker that the article (or the group's own website for that matter) lists is a dissenter. The article also mentions the talk given by the sex abuse survivor that I just posted. The author makes the same point I did about the group doing a good job by inviting this speaker and supporting abuse survivors. If they would just disavow dissent and support Church teachings fully, then the group would be legitimate and do good work, maybe even as good as Roman Catholic Faithful which has had real success in getting rid of bad priests and bishops.

Another point the article makes is that many of the VOF people were or are being educated by the seminary or the "Pastoral Formation Institute". This is part of the problem in this diocese - after so many years of faulty teaching being promoted by the same Bishop McGann who shuffled around abusive priests - these places are no guarantee of a good Catholic education.

One thing the article does not mention is that many Long Island Voice of the Faithful members supported Fr. Papa. This priest had porno site cookies (including child porn sites) on his computer in the rectory. In fact the group has not called for this priest to resign or to never be assigned to another parish. This is because he supported VOF. How is this priest a "priest of intregrity"??

For the third week in a row I attended the traditional latin Mass - which is a record for me I believe. For the second week in a row there were two seminarians from the Fraternity of St. Peter assisting at the Mass. The Mass was the Most Holy Name of Jesus and the Gospel was perhaps the shortest I have ever seen:

"At that time, when eight days were fulfilled for the circumcision of the Child, His Name was called Jesus, the Name given Him by the angel before He was conceived in the womb."

Since I was born and raised in Massapequa I always like to hear about celebrities who were born and raised here. That would include the Baldwin brothers, Peggy Noonan, Jerry Seinfeld, and Brian Setzer. Kathy of Relasped Catholic links to this article about Brian Setzer, formerly of the Stray Cats. I was told years ago that he was a genuinely nice guy and I am glad to see he appreciates religion.

Somebody stop me before I end up like the guy in the bronx who was trapped in his apartment under a pile of magazines and newspapers! I saw this notice on the Catholic World News blog about Spence Publishing having a sale and ended up buying four books:

Faith of the Fatherless by Paul Vitz

Homosexuality and American Public Life by Christopher Wolfe

The Church Impotent by Leon Podles

Shows About Nothing by Thomas Hibbs

Musical Masses

So there is a long tradition of putting masses to music? Were the masses of Mozart, Bach, Beethoven composed to be listened to? or to actually be used during a Mass?? I have the Ave Maria Mass by Stephen Edwards and like it. It was commissioned by the great Thomas Monaghan for the founding of Ave Maria College and School of Law but then dedicated to the victims of Sept. 11th. The Kyrie is beautiful, so is the Sanctus. The Gratias Deo at the end is stirring and inspirational.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

The year 2003 saw the War with Iraq, which was probably not a just war but one which removed an evil regime and started millions on the road to a better life. The War on Terrorism had some successes during the year and the heat has been kept on the fanatics within Islam. I hope this will continue into 2004. Locally, the release of the Suffolk County Grand Jury report on the Diocese of Rockville Centre proved that Bishop McGann was not good at keeping corruption out of the local Church, and was in fact part of it. The report did not have much effect since all of the incidents were from years ago - but at least most Catholics are more educated when it comes to the Diocese. The economy has improved in the U.S. and hopefully this trend will continue. The "Great Enema" (Mark Shea's term) of the Church calmed down a bit but thankfully continued. At least now, when bishops such as Grahman in Dallas pull stunts, they have a lot more media attention focused on them. Here are some of my hopes for 2004:

*That the War on Terrorism will continue especially with a focus on the hatred preached in mosques throughout the world.

*That the governments of Cuba, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Sudan, and China will be overthrown

*That the Catholics in Sudan, China, Saudi Arabia, the middle east, Africa, Cuba, and Indonesia will continue to grow in numbers and faith despite persecution and that all people will support them

*That the USA will reform its culture so that it will prosper and influence the world to the good

*That the purge of bad priests, bad bishops, bad theologians will continue in the Church and the New Evangelization will take hold

*That the so called "Catholic" Universities and colleges will either reform or go out of business and the real Catholic Universities and colleges (Steubenville, Ava Maria, Campion, etc..) will grow and succeed

*That the generation of heretics, haters, and fools will retire from positions within the Church so that younger people can once again grow up with a Catholic upbringing

*That the vocation crisis in communities such as the Nashville Dominicans, FSSP, and Franciscan Friars of the Renewal be solved with more space for their new members

*That all religious vocations are supported and nourished

*That Catholic seminaries are reformed or shut down

*That good priests are supported and dissenters ignored

*That the US will open new relations with countries of our own hemisphere and forget about "old Europe"

*That "old Europe" will be dominated by the "new Europe" such as Poland, etc..

*That developing countries continue to develop so jobs, water, roads, education are all more accessible to people

*That Liturgical reform takes hold so abuses in many dioceses end and that Ecclesia Dei is respected in all dioceses

*That Catholic groups such as Adoremus, Catholics United for the Faith, and Roman Catholic Faithful grow and are successful in their apostolates

*That when Mel Gibson's Passion of the Christ movie is released it is a critical and commercial success

Just Asking....

Is it really too much to ask that a Christmas hymn, such as Silent Night, just be sung at Midnight Mass without being coupled with some other song that no one knows???

Voice of the Faithful Long Island had John Salveson, who had been abused by a priest, speak at one of their meetings. The talk is excellent and is posted here. I hope that people who heard the talk were able to pick up a few things that I noticed. I have found that many of the stories of abuse by priests have some similar threads.

“I went through a long period as a child when I aspired to be a priest. I can still remember being fascinated by the book The Making of a Priest, which I would read at night under the covers of my bed with the aid of a flashlight, when I was supposed to be asleep.”

So those who contend that the vocation crisis is in part a result of corruption are correct, this person may or may not have had a vocation but being abused certainly would have squelched it.

“..in 1969, I met Father Robert Huneke, a new priest in our parish. He was young, smart, funny and sarcastic. He had us call him Father Bob and quickly became popular”

Beware of priests who want to appear to be just like anyone else.

“He was the sponsor of our Folk Mass group and was instrumental in getting us all to sign up for "Christian Awakening" a weekend retreat program involving several Long Island parishes. He let us smoke cigarettes around him and criticized the other parish priests in front of us. He swore. He was like no other priest I had ever met.”

Classic –allowed children to smoke, cursed AND criticized other priests in front of children. I have seen so many stories of abusive priests who criticized others in front of people- no real priest would do this. Of course, to immature children this is “cool” so it is done by pedophiles to win their favor.

“Over breakfast, Father Bob told me that what "we" did was okay. He explained that it was okay to show love for each other, and that God accepted and encouraged it.”

This is familiar, people trying to encourage disgusting behavior by justifying it as “love” that God accepts.

“I wrote to Bishop John Mc Gann of the Diocese of Rockville Centre on Long Island in 1980, telling him of my abuse and asking him to let me know what had happened to Father Huneke.”

Many Catholics on Long Island knew Bishop McGann was not doing his duty as a Bishop in many ways, but they were ignored and called “conservative” “old fashioned” and “rigid”.

“My first attempt to "go public" and expose the abuse involved speaking to a reporter at Newsday, Long Island's most widely read newspaper. The paper wouldn't publish the story. The reporter, a religion writer assigned to the story, told me I seemed more like some sort of "Teacher’s pet" to her than an abuse victim. The editors suggested that if I located other victims they might consider an article… By the end of the evening, I had a list of about 10 other victims of Father Huneke. The newspaper was still uncomfortable with the story, despite my new revelations.”

So Newsday remained silent when faced with a case of sexual abuse of a minor?? Interesting.

The talk ends on a beautiful note:

“Father Hesburgh got off the train in Baltimore. He reached above me for his travel bag, shook my hand and started to walk down the aisle. About halfway off the train, he turned and walked back to me. He said, "If no one has said it to you, I apologize for what happened to you". No one had ever said that to me. To this day, he remains the only priest who has said it. It meant more to me than he will ever know.”

This was a great testimony by this victim and I applaud Voice of the Faithful for having him speak. I think this choice of speaker towers over their choice of Richard McBrien. I just hope that people who read this speech, or heard it live, will see some of the things that I noticed. A good priest would never encourage sin, bad mouth people in front of children, or try to say homosexual sex is accepted by God. No good bishop would tolerate this type of behavior from a priest when confronted with it.

Chris of Maine Catholic and Beyond is having a poll to determine the "Catholic of the Year". (scroll down to the bottom for the poll). The poll's exact wording is:

"Which of the following people would you consider the Catholic who had the most impact on the Faith in 2003?"

And the nominees are :

Cardinal Francis Arinze
Bishop Raymond L. Burke
Bishop Timothy Dolan
Mel Gibson
Fr. Benedict Groeschel
Scott Hahn
Peggy Noonan
Archbishop Sean O'Malley
Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger
Mark Shea
Cardinal Angelo Soldano
George Weigel


I won't tell you who is in the lead or anything but after the voting is over I will discuss my nomination and vote.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

"And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shown round about them. And they were so afraid. And the angel said unto them: Fear not, for behold, I bring you tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you. Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in a manger. And suddenly, there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on Earth peace, goodwill toward men.

... That's what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown."

In Mexico, a Very Slow Build
Cathedral Nears Finish After 106 Years of Tumult


"Zamora, Mexico - On a festive day in 1898, workers laid the cornerstone for the Sanctuary of the Virgin of Guadalupe, boasting that their little strawberry-growing town in central Mexico would soon have a towering neo-Gothic cathedral to rival the grandest in Europe.

Nearly 106 years later workmen are still cutting stone and hauling mortar, saying that within two years they will finally finish a project that has soared and suffered through a century of Mexico's tumultuous relationship with the Roman Catholic Church. "

Eve Tushnet links to Godspy's interview with Barbara Nicolosi of Church of the Masses. Great interview, just go and read the whole thing.

"When I was watching The Passion I thought, in this particular moment, where we're coming out of the priest sex scandal and all the rest, the Church in a slumber -we've negotiated terms with the world in every quadrant, we've just settled in. We're not leaven in the dough, we are the dough. We're mostly indistinguishable from "the world" in so many places, in every profession. All of a sudden this movie comes out. It's going to rank with some of the greatest works of devout art that the Church has ever produced. I have absolutely no problem saying that. It's right up there with the other masters of their art forms. We don't deserve this film."

Ken Carney, Phil Sofia and Tom Diasparra are the names of 3 men who raped and tortured teenage boys. Some of the very disturbing details can be found in this article. The story of the Mepham High School football rapes is a local story that drew some national headlines, most recently in Sports Illustrated. Even worse than the rapes and torture was the fact that the Mepham High coaches and administrators were slow to cooperate with investigators. The district even tried to seal the records of the civil cases brought by the victims. Even worse than that is the fact that this type of brutal violence had gone on for years as shown in this article.

Here is another quote from a Call to Action conference, this one from 1997:

"The majority of us here represent a generation that's been wandering around almost 40 years since the Council, but what about the next generation? Could it be that our concerns have no relevance for the Boomers and Generation X? They don't seem turned on by our debates about who's to be ordained, what gender is needed for marriages, and whether or not we use inclusive language. As we keep insisting on these issues, could we just be the new conservators of a vision of church that doesn't speak to them in their search? Could this be the Spirit's invitation for us to probe more deeply who we are and what will ground us?"

--Michael Crosby, O.F.M. Cap

To answer this question---YES! You are the conservators of a corrupt Church that gave us disgusting priests who raped children! You are the conservators of a Church that left behind the Gospel of Jesus Christ! As another Franciscan priest, Fr. Groeschel said: "I'm not a conservative, I want to blow the whole thing up!"

"In Vatican II, Luther and the Modernists would find a home for many of their ideas."

--Anthony Padovano, speaker at the 2000 Call to Action conference

Is he right? And if so, can a Catholic then accept this council in its entirety?

I just found this: a father and son, both firefighters, both died in the World Trade Center. Another son lived-he carried Fr. Judge's body out of the WTC.

Anyone have any knowledge of theology? Is it true to say that there were other immaculate conceptions in history (Adam and Eve, John the Baptist for example) but that Mary is the Immaculate Conception?

At Catholic and Enjoying It! there is a discussion on The Perennial Santa Question-what to teach the kiddies re Santa. I have always enjoyed Andy Edelstein's column on fathering and this week he happens to touch on a similiar thing with Tooth Shall Set Ye Free .

U.S. Diplomats, Families Urged to Leave Saudi Arabia

"We remain fully confident that Saudi authorities are doing everything they can to protect their citizens and foreign nationals in the kingdom against terrorist attacks," department spokesman Lou Fintor said."

Saudi Arabia Bans Dolls, Stuffed Animals

I am so proud to be from Massapequa! Joey Buttafuoco, convicted rapist, has been arrested again, this time for fraud.

Among cities with more than 1 million residents, New York was the safest by far - with a crime rate nearly four times lower than in Dallas, three times lower than in Phoenix and roughly half as high as in Philadelphia or Los Angeles.

New York City continues to have a lower than expected crime rate. This has been the case for several years now and hopefully it will continue. I never thought of Phoenix or Dallas having high crime rates at all.

I went to an Advent Evening of Recollection tonight with the priest at the center of this story:

Priest: Former Bishop Ignored Abuse Reports
Statement links McGann to church cover-up in 1980s

He was an awesome preacher-one of the best I have ever heard.

The Catholic League is on the job and Bill Donohue is in top form:

"What both of these cases have in common is the tendency of well-educated people to engage in thought control. The cultural fascists in the U.S. are more likely to be found in salons than in saloons; more likely to be intoxicated with ideology than booze. Given a choice between dealing with old-fashioned rednecks and the Multicultural Gestapo, I'll take the former any day- at least they're capable of sobering up once and a while."

I think the St. Blog's award for Best Comment of the Year in the category of humor goes to Victor Lams commenting on E-Pression. Read Zorak's post, and then Victor's comment.

The December 2003 issue of The Catholic World Report contains a sampling of quotes on the health of Pope John Paul II that include:


"Once again the Pope's health is a matter of interest and concern, and that, in turn, raises the issue of papal succession. The Holy Father has fallen twice in recent months, breaking first his arm and then his hip." -Rev. Richard McBrien (National Catholic Reporter)

"With the obvious signs of the Pope's failing health, there is much speculation about what the issues will be in the minds of the cardinals when they go into a conclave to elect the next pontiff." -Rev. Andrew Greeley (National Catholic Reporter)

"...(T)he new building...could well be used for the next conclave. The building will be ready in 1996. Is this a clue?" -(the late) Peter Hebblethwaite (National Catholic Reporter)

"I have just been through the greatest period of agony-and of growth-in my life....I am not the same man. And so this is the person who will go into the conclave." -the late) Cardinal Joseph Bernardin (New York Times Magazine)

Interestingly, all the above quotes are from 1994.

Nice story about a guy who is from my parish

"Johnny, 19, also wanted “them rosaries.” Johnny said he was a member of the Latin Kings gang, dealt drugs and had been on probation for robbery and assault. His surrogate parents, an aunt and uncle (a drug dealer) turned him out of the house.
At the prayer group, Johnny said he finally found “people who really care and they are not even related to me.” His life, like Will’s, has changed. He plans to be baptized on December 8"

No wonder this guy has thousands of readers:

Mark Shea on professional environmentalists: "I apologize to the Earth for needing to exhale and keep warm. Can we move on now?"

Fr. Benedict Groeschel will be speaking and offering Mass at Kellenberg High School on Sunday December 14th, from 1-5 pm. All are welcome!

Driver Hit While on Radio Call-in Show

A Jesuit's Jesuit

"So in this time when reports of Jesuits dying of AIDS and rampant homosexuality in the ranks, the term "a Jesuit's Jesuit" has taken a whole new meaning. But in the original meaning of the term, Joseph Fessio is indeed a Jesuit's Jesuit and a real priest. We have not heard the last of him."

The Diocese of Rockville Centre (from website 12/7/03)

*1.5 million Catholics
*19 seminarians

The Diocese of Lincoln (from website 12/7/03)

*89,412 Catholics
*34 seminarians